Psychology & Neurocience

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Social Psychology

Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Published three times per year by the Association for Psychological Science, Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI) is a unique journal featuring comprehensive and compelling reviews of issues that are of direct relevance to the general public.

These reviews are written by blue-ribbon teams of specialists representing a range of viewpoints and are intended to assess the current state-of-the-science with regard to the topic. Among other things, PSPI reports have challenged the validity of the Rorschach and other projective tests, have explored how to keep the aging brain sharp, and have documented problems with the current state of clinical psychology. All PSPI reports are freely available to the public via the APS website. This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The curse of the herd. I confess I'm biased . I get very irritated by mindless conformity , even about silly, inconsequential things. I find it exasperating, for instance, when people can’t decide for themselves if a song is beautiful or a person attractive. But perhaps I’m affected more than I know.
Why Avoidance Coping is the Most Important Factor in Anxiety. Avoidance coping refers to choosing your behavior based on trying to avoid or escape particular thoughts or feelings.

It can involve "doing" (e.g., someone who excessively washes their hands to try to get rid of fears about contamination) or "not doing" (e.g., when someone avoids having an awkward conversation). Avoidance coping causes anxiety to snowball because when people use avoidance coping they typically end up experiencing more of the very thing they were trying to escape.

Here are some examples related to anxiety disorders, but the principle applies to anxiety generally. - People with panic disorder engage in avoidance coping (including not leaving their home in some cases) in order to try to avoid panicky feelings.
Alva Noë: You Are Not Your Brain. Entrevista a Humberto Maturana en el programa televisivo "Tesis"
Sleep learning is possible: Associations formed when asleep remained intact when awake. Is sleep learning possible?

A new Weizmann Institute study appearing August 26 in Nature Neuroscience has found that if certain odors are presented after tones during sleep, people will start sniffing when they hear the tones alone -- even when no odor is present -- both during sleep and, later, when awake. In other words, people can learn new information while they sleep, and this can unconsciously modify their waking behavior.

Sleep-learning experiments are notoriously difficult to conduct.

Resources

What Your Facebook Account Says About Your Brain. Why do some people have thousands of friends on Facebook and others have just a few?

It turns out that it depends on the size of their brain. A recent study found that people with more friends have a larger orbital prefrontal cortex, the region of the brain in your forehead right above your eyes. This brain region is involved in complex cognitive processes such as thinking about oneself and thinking about what other people might be thinking. Other recent studies found that people with larger social networks (including the number of friends on Facebook) also have a larger amygdala (a brain region involved in emotion regulation).
Synesthetes: "People of the Future"
If not for Pharrell Williams' music to color synesthesia , countless stars would have to find a new hit maker.

"I'd be lost," Grammy Award-winning producer, performer and entrepreneur Mr. Williams says on the phone from London. I'm interviewing him for a chapter in my book, .
Cheaters Always Win—The Paradox of Getting Ahead in America. I often write about how America's leading successes in politics and business cheat more than the rest of us (in their marriages, on their taxes, in gaining advantages for their children ).

As I said in " Why Policiticans Get Laid More: The Low Road to the High Life ": "How many male readers—who will never achieve political office or become multimillionaires like Bill Clinton—would accept oral sexual favors from a 21-year-old woman at work? You wouldn't? No wonder your career's stalled!
" And, remember, Clinton is beloved worldwide. My point is that most of us are hemmed in by restrictions—real, imagined, social, economic, legal—that the most daring learn to ignore.
Mental Health.

Cognitive Psychology - The Brain (1-5)(THE BRAIN, MIND & CONSCIOUSNESS series)
Right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers, says controversial study - and conservative politics can lead people to be racist. Children with low intelligence grow up to be prejudicedRight-wing views make the less intelligent feel 'safe'Analysis of more than 15,000 people By Rob Waugh Updated: 09:54 GMT, 8 February 2012 Right-wingers tend to be less intelligent than left-wingers, and people with low childhood intelligence tend to grow up to have racist and anti-gay views, says a controversial new study.

Conservative politics work almost as a 'gateway' into prejudice against others, say the Canadian academics. The paper analysed large UK studies which compared childhood intelligence with political views in adulthood across more than 15,000 people.
Polémica por estudio canadiense: Las personas con un nivel inferior de inteligencia gr...[+] - Cambio21.cl. Blame Game Blog.

Popular psychology theories on self-esteem not backed up by serious research, study finds. Low self-esteem is associated with a greater risk of mental health problems such as eating disorders and depression. From a public health perspective, it is important for staff in various health-related professions to know about self-esteem.

However, there is a vast difference between the research-based knowledge on self-esteem and the simplified popular psychology theories that are disseminated through books and motivational talks, reveals research from the University of Gothenburg. Current popular psychology books distinguish between self-esteem and self-confidence. It is also believed that it is possible to improve self-esteem without there being a link to how competent people perceive themselves to be in areas they consider important.
Evolutionary Psychology.

Neurobiology

Dangerous Ideas. Why Raising Children Is So Hard. You don't really know what an experience is like, of course, until you have it yourself.

I remember thinking to myself when my wife and I first began discussing the idea of having children that this was especially true regarding parenthood . In the past I'd been able to predict with reasonable accuracy a number of novel experiences based on previous similar experiences, but no experience I'd yet had seemed even close to the experience of having a child (sorry, owning a pet doesn't come close). The truth is that parenthood is both wonderful and awful at the same time.